A Former Mayor's House on Catawba Avenue Is Now Where Cornelius Learns the Pottery Wheel

The cedar shakes on the new building at Catawba Avenue and School Street are cut in diamonds. That pattern comes from the gables of the old Puckett house next door. The builders also saved a decorative window from the Goodrum House and worked it into the new design. Behind those details is the Cain Center for the Arts' new Puckett Pottery House. It has wheels, electric kilns, a raku kiln, and a small shop that sells the same clay used in its classes.

The studio opened in May, so its first full fall season is now underway. It was designed to run far more classes than the ceramics program could before, and as of October 7 most of the fall wheel-throwing sessions were already sold out. This fall, most beginners will get in through one door, a two-hour Friday-night workshop.

Two Houses With Cornelius Names on Them

The Puckett House is named for former Cornelius Mayor William Lee Puckett and Mary Washam Puckett, who owned the Puckett Grocery Store. The Goodrum House next door is named for Perry Goodrum, an administrator at the Cornelius Cotton Mill. According to the Charlotte Observer, both houses went up in the early 1900s, when the town was growing fast because new cotton mills were drawing workers. Lake Norman Publications describes the Puckett house as Folk Victorian, and Cornelius Today calls the pair Queen Anne style. Either way, both are early-1900s homes from the Victorian era.

According to Cornelius Today, the Town of Cornelius and Preservation Mecklenburg Inc. were among those who helped save the sites. Two local firms did the renovation, Davidson-based Nicole Perri Architecture and Cornelius-based RJK Construction. The Puckett house is now the ceramics studio, and the Goodrum house holds offices for the Cain Center's growing staff. The two lawns became a shared courtyard meant for classes, gatherings, and acoustic music. A third lot next to them has also been laid out as courtyard space, and the Center plans to expand into it later.

The studio's dedication and ribbon cutting were May 6, 2026, followed by an open house, tours, and drop-in classes through May 9.

Built to Run More Classes

Ceramics in Cornelius started before the Cain Center. The town ran the program until the Center took it over a few years ago, and for years the classes met in a space on Oak Street that wasn't built for pottery. The new studio fixes that with separate rooms for hand-building and wheel throwing, a glazing area, and three kilns.

When the project was announced in September 2024, Executive Director Justin Dionne told the Citizen what the goal was:

"It's an optimization thing more so than a bigger space that will allow us to offer five times the classes."

He also framed the project as part of downtown, not just the arts program. "Our goal from the beginning was to be stewards of the downtown area and create a vibrant district for the arts," Dionne told Cornelius Today, describing the new buildings and courtyards as "a new welcome to downtown."

The Fall Wheel Sessions, as of October 7

Registration for the Cain Center's fall sessions opened to donors September 1 through 7 and to the public on September 8 at 10 a.m. Here is where the multi-week wheel classes at Puckett Pottery House stood about a month later:

Three of the four were full, and the only one with seats left is aimed at people who have thrown before. The Tuesday intermediate class skips Thanksgiving week. Ticket availability changes, so check these listings on the Cain Center's class page before counting on any of them.

The Friday Door

For a true beginner, the Beginner Pottery Wheel Workshop is the most dependable way in this fall. It runs Fridays from 6 to 8 p.m. at Puckett Pottery House, is open to ages 16 and up, and requires no experience. Tools are provided. These are the dates on the calendar from now through December:

1. Friday, October 9
2. Friday, October 16
3. Friday, October 30, already sold out as of October 7
4. Friday, November 6
5. Friday, November 13
6. Friday, November 20
7. Friday, December 4
8. Friday, December 11

Each participant picks one piece for the staff to glaze and fire. The finished pot isn't ready that night. The Center says to expect an email about pickup roughly four weeks later. That timing matters if the piece is meant as a gift. A bowl thrown at the November 20 session would have a pickup notice due around mid-December, and one from December 11 would likely land after the holidays.

The ticket price wasn't shown on the pages we could check, so look on the workshop listing before booking. Cornelius residents get 15% off Cain Center classes and workshops with the code RESCODE at checkout. The Center also says that non-residents who use the code will be charged full price and may lose their spot.

After the Workshop

Open studio is for people who already know their way around clay. You need intermediate clay experience or at least one full session with an instructor, plus a signed waiver. The Fall A open studio schedule lists:

• Cost: $40 per session
• Length: two-hour blocks
• Days: Monday through Thursday at 10:30 a.m., 1 p.m., and/or 5 p.m., depending on the day, and Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.
• Firing: up to three small pieces per session
• Walk-ins: welcome, but space is limited and registering ahead is recommended

Clay has to be bought from the Cain Center to be fired there, and participants bring their own tools. The schedule doesn't clearly say when the Fall A block ends, so confirm current times on the open studios page.

Getting into next season's classes takes planning. The fall donor presale was open to Friends of Cain Center members at the Patron level and up, which means $500 or more. Everyone else got access when public sales opened on September 8. Because three of the four wheel sessions were full a month later, it pays to know when the next registration window opens.

The Rest of the Block This Fall

The pottery house is only a few steps from the original Cain Center, which opened in 2023. That building has a gallery, two large classrooms, a dance studio, and a theater with more than 400 seats and a balcony. A Friday workshop can easily turn into a full evening, and several of the theater's fall dates fall on or near workshop nights.

Three Fridays have both a workshop and a show. October 9 has the beginner workshop and the Jazz Legacy Project. October 16 has Chatham Rabbits, and November 6 has ABACAB. No raku firings or courtyard concerts were on the fall calendar as of early October. The courtyard is planned for performances and gatherings, so those could be added later.

One last detail is the address. The Cain Center's own pages list both 21206 and 21212 Catawba Avenue, and local news coverage uses 21212. The building with the diamond-cut shakes at the corner of School Street is easy to find either way.

Places like the Puckett Pottery House, where a former mayor's home now has kilns and wheels, are part of what I share with clients who want to know what Cornelius is like day to day. If you'd like suggestions for a full evening downtown this fall, or more of the local history behind places like this one, I'm happy to help. Mary Kay Portaro. Let's Connect.